We've made fun of her time and time again for her absurdly error-filled columns, but this takes it to an entirely new level: the New York Times publicly addressed The Alessandra Stanley Problem today in Clark Hoyt's Public Editor column.

Wow. Is the New York Times just picking on poor error-ridden Alessandra Stanley, now? Yet another correction was published in today's paper from her Walter Cronkite appraisal, which they've already corrected twice. Epic. [NY Times Corrections]

We start working on Saturday's dick jokes at 9AM, while the mainstream media's still sleeping. Example: the Times - where people read about NYC bomb threats - was eight hours late to one that shut down LaGuardia Airport today.

• Détente? The feuding between Fox News and MSNBC has grown so fierce that News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and GE's Jeff Immelt met up recently "to figure out how to defuse tensions between the two channels." [LAT]
• The Boston Globe reports that two groups of investors have submitted preliminary bids to buy the newspaper from the New York Times Co. [AP]
• Breathe easy: Oprah has not been harmed. The suspicious package outside Winfrey's Harpo Studios this morning turned out to be harmless. [AP]
• All that idiocy on Lou Dobbs' part over the past couple of weeks hasn't done much to boost his ratings on CNN. His numbers continue to fall. [NYO]
• Those McKinsey consultants are paying off! Editors at Condé Nast were told yesterday they'll no longer be reimbursed for newspapers. [Daily Intel]

Today's New York Times Page One recession-porn dispatch is so unrelentingly hackneyed that William Shatner ought to read it aloud to bongos. And it neglects to mention that the hero—a gruff homeless-encampment leader—is a convicted child rapist.

The way we live now: In tents pitched under urban bridges that border toxic rivers in communities run by tribal chiefs, just like on Survivor or something. Doesn't that sound so enticing?

In your whopping Thursday media column: South Africa's president wins a libel case, Creative Loafing's tenuous existence, RBI's selling everything, and the latest problem with saving the New York Times.

Look what popped up on Simon & Schuster's YouTube channel tonight! It's Glenn Beck, imploring the masses, including liberals, to buy his book so he can send his daughter to Obama's alma mater, that noted communist think-tank, Columbia University.

Maureen Dowd has discovered that Sarah Palin actually embodies most of the misogynist stereotypes that Maureen Dowd has traditionally attributed to Hillary Clinton.

William T. Vollmann is a reclusive, eyebrowless (They were burned off in an accident at the North Pole) pistol-packing writer, and as such he is probably the last of a dying breed: The badass literary figure.

The idea that Eliot Spitzer's downfall was engineered by the financial industry whose profits he threatened with regulation has made the rounds on the internet for a while. Now Vanity Fair is siccing two investigative reporters on the story.

Under almost any circumstance, it would be highly unfair to compare NYT managing editor for news Jill Abramson's new "Puppy Diaries" column to Joan Didion's masterpiece essay "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." Unless Abramson asks us to.

So you think the American economy's bad? Well get a load of this: Things are so awful in Japan that many of that country's women are seeking employment as gentleman's club "hostesses," which is basically a prerequisite to prostitution.

• After two very unsuccessful years as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, Ben Silverman is finally leaving the company. He's teaming up with Barry Diller's IAC to start some sort of vague media/advertising firm. He'll be replaced by Jeff Gaspin, who headed up NBC's cable unit until now. [NYT, NYT, DF]
• Disney's G-Force topped Harry Potter at the box office this weekend. [THR]
• Remember Friendster? It's up for sale, in case you're interested. [PC]
• HBO is the most "gay-friendly cable network," according to GLAAD. [Reuters]

Apologies to MCA: get better, man. NOW here's a little story/I'd like to tell/about one Phyllis Nefler/you know so well/she rocks the W & C of Sunday's NYT/And she's about to kick/a little history...

What kind of wacky, ridiculous business of the New York Times does Public Editor Clark Hoyt have to examine lately? Try this one on for size: putting the public at risk while driving, and bragging about it via the photo.

All hell's gonna break loose on Martha's Vineyard at the end of August when (1) the Obama family descends on the quiet East Coast getaway for two weeks and (2) Chelsea Clinton's wedding goes down. So: where're they living?

Katie Couric may be a little late to the "Alessandra Stanley screwed up Walter Cronkite's obit" party but she is officially its celebrity guest. Couric used her entire "notebook" column to school Stanley, and, boy, is it a doozy.

The New York Times has talked about charging again for some of its website; its CEO recently alluded to a "membership model with special offerings." What does that mean? Meet NYT Gold and NYT Silver.

• How's the New York Times Co. planning to lift itself out of the financial mess it's been in? Times Co. chief Janet Robinson says more cuts are on the way and the company is planning to sell off more assets. Also, there's some sort of paid membership model in the works, apparently. [WSJ, Gawker]
• Related: The paper says it will sell its stake in the Red Sox by January. [BG]
• What you missed at Walter Cronkite's funeral yesterday. [NYT, WaPo]
• Best-selling author E. Lynn Harris has died. He was 54. [NYT]
• More magazine is teaming up with Candace Bushnell on a new Web series starring 90210's Jennie Garth and Talia Balsam from Mad Men. [MW]
• After a ten-year run, today is Paula Froelich's last day at Page Six. [NYM]